Originally posted by Winder The 53.7 x 40.4 645 sensor that is used by Phase One is 3x the price. A Pentax 645 with that sensor is going to be +/- $16,000. The Phase One camera is $50,000.
That may all be true but would you have been able to predict the price of the 645D when introduced?
It undercut every competitor by a big margin and I'm sure Pentax still made a big profit on every camera sold.
A similar upset could occur in the future and if it does not happen in a radical move then surely, over time, larger sensors will become more affordable.
Currently a full-frame 645D may not be in the same market segment as the Fuji GFX (who knows what Fuji will sell it for, though?), but as the price of a full-frame 645D comes down it will either join the Fuji GFX in the same segment, or the GFX will be pushed to lower margin shores.
Originally posted by Winder No more than Ricoh has limited its potential by using K-mount. Its all relative. People said the same thing about X-mount since it is specific to APS-C, but Fuji has been very, very successful with the "limited" X-mount.
I'm sure you will agree that the level of success Fuji has enjoyed with their X-mount is not primarily based on limiting the mount size. They have been riding the retro train and enlisted (or attracted) the services of many internet celebrities. Remember that you can have small lenses with bigger mounts. BTW, the X-mount has a 44mm diameter. That's bigger than the K-mount's diameter (42mm). Apparently, the shorter registration distance of the X-mount demands bigger throats even for a smaller image circle.
Originally posted by Winder Who said they are after FF DSLR customers? Fuji is selling this to people looking to get into MF or people who are tired of paying 2-3x the price for Phase One and Hassy products.
When I said "
leaving the well-cared for FF market", I did not literally mean dropping one's FF equipment. I meant "
not consider the well-cared for FF market". Sorry for the misleading phrasing.
Fuji may be targeting MF photographers but how can they do it with a straight face when their version of "MF" offers less advantage over FF than FF offers over APS-C and Fuji has been very clear about that FF is not worth having if you can have APS-C?
Originally posted by Winder Fuji is going to sell a lot of these cameras.
That could well be the case (I don't know) but if your information about the mount size is correct, I'm certain that they closed themselves a door for selling a lot of these camera in the more distant future. I think the GFX format is an unfortunate format that does not give a big boost over FF which is well-established with a lot of alternatives to choose from and has a lot of support in terms of lenses and professional service networks. Don't you think the GFX format will receive pressure from both FF (there will no doubt be advances) and real MF (bigger sensors which will become more affordable)? It may look good now, but won't it be a "pocket "MF" " (yes, I'm using double quotes because I don't think this downsized format deserves to be called MF*)) product in the future?
(*) Yes, I know anything between 36x24 and "large format" can perhaps be referred to as "medium format" but all the common MF film formats were quite a bit bigger than 43.8 x 32.9, weren't they?